


IV

by Hibernia1



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Fear, Gen, Harry potter reference, House Being Kind, House Doing Doctor Stuff, Pain, Panic, fries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 09:39:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5661649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hibernia1/pseuds/Hibernia1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>House treats a patient that's not even his</p>
            </blockquote>





	IV

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've been posting House fan fic on LJ before (ages ago), and now that I've got an AO3 account anyway, I decided to put them here, too.

House stopped in his tracks when he passed the recovery room on his way to the cafeteria. Usually, people weren’t crying while they were there. They were either too sick, or too dazed, or too relieved their surgery was over to cry. Still, he heard someone crying now.

Curious, he entered the room and threw a questioning look at the nurse behind the desk.

“Doctor House? We don’t have one of your patients here, do we?” the nurse asked, not quite understanding what House was doing in her domain.

“No,” House said, “why is someone wailing like that?”

The nurse rolled her eyes.

“Oh, _her_. It’s a woman who had surgery on her leg. She’s the worst patient I ever had. She had to have oxygen, but she kept pulling the tube out of her nose and she was also fidgeting with the IV in her hand, so I restrained her. She threw a tantrum at that.”

“If she keeps crying like this the oxygen won’t do her much good,” House said.

The nurse went on to complain about the crying patient, but House wasn’t listening anymore. He went to the woman’s bed and frowned. The patient was very, very upset. Her eyes were swollen because of the crying, she was tugging at the restraints as hard as she could and she was gasping for breath in between pleading for someone to untie her.

“Calm down,” House told her in a stern voice, “promise me you’ll leave the tube in your nose until I say otherwise and I’ll untie you.”

The patient looked at him with huge, scared eyes, and nodded.

"Good."

House undid the restraints and shook his head when he noticed her damaged wrists.

“You shouldn’t have fought like this, girl,” he said, “I’ll get you something for that in a minute. Now, take some deep breaths.”

The patient obeyed, taking deep, shaking breaths. House checked her oxygen levels, which were okay. Her heart rate was way too fast and her blood pressure was through the roof, but being in a state of panic will do that, so he wasn’t too concerned about it.

“I’ll take the tube out,” he announced, “leave your IV alone, okay?”

“But it hurts,” the woman said.

“It does?”

“Doctor House, don’t indulge her!” the nurse shouted, “she’s just being a big baby!”

House turned around and looked at her in disgust.

“Are you always this dismissive when someone complains about pain, nurse… where’s your nametag?” he asked, “ I’ll have a word with your supervisor about that. And didn’t it occur to you to check this patient’s wrists after putting her in restraints?”  


“I told her not to fight them,” the nurse said, digging up her nametag from one of her pockets and showing House she was called E. Barkley, “and I’m _not_ dismissive about pain, but she’s been overreacting since she set foot in this hospital, and...”

“You told her not to fight them, while anyone with two brain cells to rub together could see she’s way too messed up to even register what you say,” House interrupted, “great job. Who’s this patient’s attending?”

“Wickman, Orthopedics,” nurse Barkley said, looking at House with a hint of fear in her face.

“Good. He’ll hear about all this,” House said, “and now get back to whatever it was you were doing.”

Barkley opened her mouth to protest, but a look from House shut her up. Muttering under her breath, she returned to her desk.

“Don’t look at me as if I’m about to kill you,” House told the patient, “contrary to popular opinion, I seldom hurt my patients.”

He gently took the oxygen tube out of the patient’s nose and went on to check her IV. 

“Hell, no wonder this hurts. Okay, what’s your name? Hannah? Good. I’m doctor House. Listen, Hannah, I’m gonna remove the IV. The catheter isn’t placed correctly, that’s what’s causing you pain.”

“Can it stay out?” Hannah asked hopefully.

“No, it can’t, but I’m going to start it again and get it right this time. You won’t feel a thing once it’s in.”

“I’m scared,” Hannah said.

“Yeah? And here I was, thinking you were completely indifferent,” House sneered, “hang on while I get some gloves and see how a pro does this.”

Less than a minute later House took Hannah’s hand. She gave him a panicked wide-eyed stare but didn’t pull back. House realized she was literally too scared to move and his opinion of how nurse Barkley had treated her sank even lower. 

“Taking it out now, there. Feels better? Yeah, I thought it would. Keep breathing,” House said, “hey, breathing is important. I recommend it to all of my patients.”

Hannah smiled vaguely for a split second and breathed.

“I’m gonna start the IV again now,” House told her, “so decide if you want to watch or look away.”

Hannah hardly had time to make any decisions at all, because House had the IV neatly in place in record time.

She carefully touched the catheter with one finger.

“Doesn’t hurt,” she said, “thanks, doctor House.”

“I never lie,” House told her, “and you’re welcome. Try to calm down a bit now while I do something about your wrists. And next time someone puts you in restraints, don’t fight them, but press the call button and demand to see your attending physician.”

Hannah nodded. 

“I wasn’t thinking anymore,” she said, “I just wanted to die.”

“Yeah, it’s obvious you weren’t thinking,” House said while treating the abrasions on her wrists, “you were fighting like a feral cat, though. Not smart. And stop wiping your face with the sheet, I’ll get Bellatrix Lestrange over there to clean you up a bit before you go back to the ward.”

Hannah grinned briefly at the Harry Potter reference, but then looked scared again.

“She hates me,” she whispered, “she’ll tie me up again.”

“She won’t. She fears me more than she hates you. And she’ll know I’ll check on you later today to see how you’re doing and to ask how people are treating you. She’ll treat you like you're her own daughter, believe me,” House said, “also, little Miss Panic – as soon as you’re well enough you need to get some therapy. Being this terrified of medical procedures isn’t healthy.”

Hannah looked away, but House took her chin and made her look at him.

“Hey. I’m not saying it’s something to be ashamed of. I’m just saying it’s not healthy. So, therapy. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good,” House said. He gave Hannah a pat and walked over to Barkley to give her very specific instructions as to the further treatment of this patient. After that, he talked to Barkley’s supervisor and Wickman.

All these events made him very late for lunch. Wilson had already finished most of his when House finally joined him.

“You ate all your fries!” House said, “that’s so unfair. You could have waited.”

“You don’t need two portions,” Wilson told him, “what kept you? You were right behind me.”

“Had a patient.”

“You don’t even have a case.”

“This one came up unexpectedly,” House said, “I got to yell at a nurse and everything. It was awesome.”

He briefly filled Wilson in on what had happened. 

“So, you just helped that poor girl to be able to yell at a nurse and possibly get her fired, right?” Wilson asked.

“Of course,” House said, “I need to live up to my reputation.”

“Yeah, God forbid people find out you actually have a heart.” 

“Right. I don’t,” House said, taking Wilson’s last piece of steak.

Wilson smiled. He knew better, and he was pretty sure Hannah did as well.


End file.
